Research Programs

International Trade

Program Director(s)

Overview

The International Trade group at Yale extends across the department and the School of Management and includes faculty who work on theoretical, empirical and quantitative trade models, trade policy, political economy, and international finance. The field also benefits from the university’s globalization initiative.

Overview of Courses

The International Trade sequence consists of two courses: 720 and 721. On the theoretical side, these courses cover the theory of international trade, policy, and institutions. Specifically the sequence covers: discussion of classical, neo-classical, and imperfect-competition-scale-economies-based static models of trade; dynamic extensions of some of the models that explore the relations among trade, innovation, and growth; the analytics of trade policy issues, such as gains from trade, tariffs and quotas, customs unions and free trade areas, and the political economy of trade policy making. On the empirical side, the sequence covers a variety of topics in international trade with particular emphasis on current research areas. Topics include tests of international trade theories; studies of the relationship between international trade, labor markets, and income distribution; recent trade liberalization episodes in developing countries; empirical assessment of various trade policies, such as VERs and Anti-Dumping; productivity (and its relation to international trade liberalization); and exchange rates, market integration, and international trade.

Seminars

There are weekly International Trade Workshop at which faculty from Yale and other universities and advanced graduate students make presentations. The department also sponsors a weekly International Trade Lunch where Yale faculty and graduate students present work in early stages.